The Nocturne
by dismaynight
Summary: We are the same by the ocean, when the music plays... those moments when we truly exist." / Demyx/Aerith


**Disclaimer: I do not own the Kingdom Hearts franchise. That belongs to Square/Disney. :)**

Spun this on a whim. 'Twas very relaxing and colorful to write. Imagine brightness, beauty -- and all things that encompass islands. :D

Enjoy.

* * *

It's not everyday that a Nobody smiles.

Even more rare is when they mean it, from the bottom of their empty chests.

However, if it's the nocturne of Nobodies, you can expect he will be the exception to this.

He is defined by innocence, though he knows he is far from it. His Other was innocent; just a fifteen year old kid from Atlantica he was, so of course he would have been _innocent_. But the nocturne knows better than to be innocent in the line of work he is in -- innocence in the universe that he existed in meant a quick and innocent _death_.

Being an equivocation of innocent, however, can definitely get a Nobody where he wants to go. So, the nocturne is 'innocent' -- that is, until the moment you hear his nightly music, chords of darkly playful vibrations and peacefully obscure melodies overflowing from his room (because those are the only words that can accurately describe the sound).

Sometimes, he wishes he were really as innocent as he acted -- constantly inquisitive about _everything_, sweet and smiley when approached peacefully, confidently ignorant but internally low-esteemed when faced with an opponent, seeming to be so distinctly emotional in comparison to the other members of the Organization that there was _no way_ he didn't possess a heart. But the nocturne knows far more than he lets on (asking questions only to test intentions), is internally bored with peaceful conversations, dislikes fighting but knows how to battle effectively and usually beats his opponent easily, and most definitely does _not_ have a heart.

And he is constantly frustrated with the lack of heart -- well, in his mind, for he obviously can't feel anything, of course.

Secretly, he is the one who desires his heart back the most out of all the Nobodies, but he refuses to seem so desperate -- desire is not part of being innocent, after all.

The nocturne, on this day, however, has a reason to smile. He longs to feel the happiness and calm that typically invoke a smile, but because he can't, a fake emotion is good enough.

He has been sitting on this cliff for a very long time now, his sitar humming at his fingertips with the occasional chorus of volume, on some island world that he walked into at random. The cliff casts a shadow over the ocean below it, and the contrast of the melancholy blue that the shadow creates and the energetic turquoise of the water surrounding it definitely makes him feel (in his head) bright and at complete comfort. Occasionally he takes a rest in the music and makes the ocean water dance beneath his dangling feet, the sun causing it to shimmer.

He smirks as he sprays the water back into its home and begins to pluck the strings again.

"Hello," says a voice from behind him. He does not recognize it but knows it must be some random hospitable girl deciding that the nocturne could use some company.

He glances at the setting sun but turns his focus quickly to his music again.

"That's beautiful," the girl said, sitting beside him, "that music that you're playing. …So beautiful."

He lets the melody drift into a harmony, and turns to look at the girl.

She is a young woman, a brunette whose hair spirals prettily in its high ponytail with strands and bangs that frame her face in such a way he would have thought she was twelve years old. He knew she must be in her twenties, however, for her face held such a mature peacefulness to it that she couldn't be younger than twenty. Her eyes were green, and told him that she held almost no darkness in her heart, and was, like he had predicted her to be at the first greeting, seemingly _very_ hospitable by nature.

She sparked a false sense of curiosity in his mind.

"Thank you," he says. He didn't bother looking innocent, but instead just acted as he would if he did have a heart -- he didn't need anything from her, so why even try fooling her into his normal act? It was pointless.

"My name is Aerith," she replies, gazing off at the horizon with a gentle smile. She dangles her legs off the side of the cliff as he had, her hands folded in her lap.

He nods, and returns to his music.

Suddenly, she asks him, "You're a Nobody, aren't you?" Her gaze does not move.

He sends her a sideways glance and nods again, slowly.

"What is your name?"

"It doesn't matter," he says, plain and simple.

"It does," she replies, knowingly. "It matters to me."

"How can it?" he says, turning his eyes to the strings he continues to effortlessly play. "Nobodies are nonexistent. It is impossible for us to matter or mean anything."

"That is not true," she says, lower. "How can you be nonexistent if you sit and exist right next to me? You are breathing. You have a name. And you matter to me."

"Why?" he snaps, his music changing to a solemn key.

"Because you exist," she says, as if it were an obvious thing. "And because you play so beautifully. You made my day today, in an odd way. I heard your music, and I felt better."

He shakes his head. The music changes key again, and now it reminds the two of the ocean below them.

"I'm not from here," she says. "Just as you aren't. I come from Hollow Bastion, but I am visiting a friend. I came to thank him for saving my friends' lives without even knowing them that well."

"You came all this way to thank someone?" says the nocturne, eyebrows raised in a bored kind of surprise.

"Yes," she giggles, "but the ocean distracted me from going home. It made me think of things that I don't usually think of. How could I depart without spending time on this beach first? It is so peaceful -- something that doesn't exist in Hollow Bastion."

He nodded, the melody sliding up an octave. He sighed.

"My name is Demyx."

Aerith smiled. "What does the ocean do to you?"

"It reminds me that I exist," he says with a knowing smirk. "It makes me feel alive." He kicks his foot a little and the water dances between and around them.

Aerith watches it in wonder, smiling in tune with the melody that surrounds them.

"I've seen things that no one knows I've seen," he says, eyes shutting. "Horrible things. Some come from a memory that does not belong to me -- a memory of innocence and terrorism; the rest are from the missions I am told to do. It's a sick and twisted thing, stealing hearts from children, you know. Watching their faces as it leaves them is an excruciatingly numb thing. It reminds me how heartless I am, to an extent. But water keeps flowing, even as it passes over rocks and flint and tossed-away children, lost-away orphans. Water reminds me that even an unfeeling thing must overcome stuff that makes you feel again, even though the emotions are not what you would desire.

"In the end, only music makes sense; only music controls the waves and tells the water where to run to."

Aerith stares at him with a gentle smile. "You are a beautiful thing," she whispers, and nods. "I wish you could feel the music that you are playing and the lyrics you speak."

Demyx smiles because he has a reason to. "But I do," he says, to her instead of to the things she said. "Some Nobodies claim to feel again when they meet someone special. I feel when the music plays by the ocean."

She nods slowly, and moves to kneel beside him. She turns his face to her with a soft hand that he cannot feel. He looks at her, not bothering to fake any emotion. Then, she kisses him on the forehead.

"I can't pretend that you consider me a friend now," she says quietly. "But I will watch over you when you're around."

"Why?" he says, leaning his head towards the hand now on his shoulder.

She gave him a curt smile, and he realizes then the only two words that truly describe her, in his mind: simple and clean. It is such a contradiction to what he is used to -- maybe this is why he had found himself telling her the things he had. She is refreshing to him. "Because we're the same by the ocean, when the music plays… those moments when we truly exist."

He furrows his eyebrows and she giggles.

"You're smart. You're lyrical and poetic. I know that you know what I mean," she says, and laughs gently before she stands. "I know you're not innocent."

He smiles as she leaves him, forgetting the memories he talked about. Instead, he lets the music make him feel again, and lets the beauty of the water open his eyes. He feels like she is still sitting beside him.

Night falls, and the melody turns into a dreamy string of notes.

It's not everyday that a Nobody smiles.

Even more rare is when they mean it, from the bottom of their empty chests.

However, if it's the _nocturne_ of Nobodies, you can expect he will be the exception to this.


End file.
